By Miki Mullor
Editor
Sid Gupta initially asked to be appointed to the Sammamish City Council in 2022 despite having no documented work experience or higher education. Now, the councilmember is running to keep his seat, which he later won in a quiet election cycle in 2023, raising questions about how someone with no professional background came to hold public office.
Continue readingBy Miki Mullor
Editor
** Special coverage **
After four years of battle, in which city council was able to temporarily put control on over development, a one-two punch by former mayor Don Gerend and city staff ended the fight.
As of July, development in Sammamish can continue uninterrupted, regardless of inadequate infrastructure.
The concurrency measure known as Volume over Capacity, or V/C, that gave City Council a tool to prohibit development that exceeds the ability of infrastructure to handle it, is gone and so was a development moratorium that has been in place in hopes of restoring it.
Continue readingBy Miki Mullor
Editor
After counting 95% of the ballots, Mayor Karen Moran won her re-election in a landslide, winning over 75% of the votes. Moran is also the only candidate in this election crossing the 10,000 vote count.
Also winning, in tight races, were Karen Howe, Kali Clark and Amy Lam.
Continue readingBy Miki Mullor
Editor
Sammamish City Council Candidate Josh Amato did not respond to tough questions raised regarding the veracity of his candidacy announcement concerning an arrest and a recent attempt to scrub his 2010 ties to a white supremacy hate group.
Instead, Amato’s sister posted a comment on our story, largely backing Amato’s version of the events. The sister’s comment, however, leaves many questions open.
The Sammamish Comment asked Amato for further clarifications – three days ago – with no response from the candidate. Amato also ignored requests to comment on the original story.
In a blog post responding to questions about his history as a Republican, Amato said “as uncomfortable as confrontation may be, I believe it is absolutely your right to ask tough questions of those asking for your vote.”
Instead, his supporters are now attacking The Comment for highlighting the issues with his campaign’s obfuscations.
UPDATE [Oct 25]: after ignoring our interview questions, Amato told Lin Yang’s blog the Comment “did not talk to him ti understand the full story.” – another falsehood from Amato, refuted by copies of the emails we sent him prior to publishing our stories. See more at the bottom of this story.
Continue readingBy Miki Mullor
Editor
When Josh Amato announced his candidacy for Sammamish City Council last spring, he posted a video on his campaign website disclosing an arrest at age 21 for a misdemeanor.
However, the police report from the Tacoma Police Department discloses that the circumstances surrounding his arrest were far more serious than Amato revealed – it was for intimidation, stalking and threats with a weapon – a felony.
In addition, Sammamish Comment uncovered political documents on the Internet that connect Amato, then campaign manager for Dick Muri, a Republican candidate for Congress, to groups with racist and white supremacist leanings.
Shortly after The Comment discovered the key document, Amato’s name was removed from the posting on the Internet.
Amato is currently a Sammamish planning commissioner.
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Sammamish Comment 